The latest trend these days is of Mesh Networking. The perfect candidate for such a configuration is the Starry Station Router. Available for $299, the router shall bring your mind to ease with its easy interface and cute looks.
Design
The router adheres to the name. Being triangular in shape and having a rounded touchscreen in the middle, the router gives a feel like being a compact “Starry Station”. Furthermore, the router certainly doesn’t look like it should be hidden away. Instead, its so beautiful you would want to place it out there in the open. That would also mean a better signal strength of course.
At the front of the device is a glossy white plastic shell and at the back is a brushed aluminum plate. Not only this, but there are concentric holes at the back too. The holes are meant for air flow since the device needs to cool off courtesy it’s built-in cooling fan. It’s rather unusual for a router to have a cooling fan but this one does.
Specs
The router is powered by two dual-core processors. One is for the network and the other one for the interface. This necessarily means that the router is perfectly capable of a smooth performance, even when multiple users are connected to the network.
Moreover, there are dual-band, 4×4 MIMO 802.11ac (a/b/g/n, too) radios too. Along with this, the system sustains itself on a whopping 1.5 GB of RAM, ensuring the internet and interface both respond without a lag.
In addition to this, there is 8 GB of flash storage too. This can be used to store updates and log data. If you happen to have an IoT device, then router also boasts an 802.15 ac radio.
The number of ports is quite few though. The router just has two ethernet ports. To add more to the dismay, one of the router serves as a WAN port for your connection to a broadband modem. Of course, the small size is a suitable explanation for this. But forget multiple wired connections. On the contrary, since our focus is Wireless networking for this router, it shouldn’t affect you much.
Performance
The router’s main strength is its ease of use. Therefore just expect a substantially better performance over the ISP-provided router or gateway. But the best thing is also its network stability.
Starry Station provides a much more stable connection compared with your average ISP provided router or gateway. Therefore, this implies that your download speeds will largely remain stable over the download period. This also ensures a better user experience while video streaming or online gaming, since there won’t be lagging.
Easy to Setup
It just takes 5 minutes literally to set up the router. The router automatically updates itself when first connected to a broadband modem and a power connection. The 3.8-inch touchscreen then provides you with an option to download the Starry app as well. Afterwards, it’s just choosing a name for your network and a suitable strong WiFi password. The network supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands and there is additional 5Ghz band too if you want to use that.
When you are all set up you can access various features of the router through its touchscreen. These include a Wi-Fi Health percentage score, parental controls, and even guest networks.
For a price tag of $299, the device does seem to be a bit too expensive, but considering how easier it is to set it up and it’s elegant simple interface, it’s worth buying.